Arkansas Blog

The private option speeds out of House committee

The bill to preserve the private option expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare for two years but to appoint a task force to study restructuring of health care in Arkansas was approved in the House Public Health Committee this morning on a voice vote. Already approved in the Senate, it goes to the House floor.

The Medicaid approopriation bill also will require approval and it, too, has already passed the Senate. Rep. Joe Farrer of Austin, one of the most adamant opponents of the private option in past sessions, presented the Hutchinson administration bill along with Rep. Kelley Linck.

Sounds like you can stick a fork in this, despite a Republican delegation swollen by successful candidates who devoted their entire campaigns against Democrats to defeating the private option.